Blueberries

[bunn]

News story here : Sales of blueberries have overtaken those of raspberries
is riddled with wrongness! 

Britain is mostly on alkaline soil?  That'll be a surprise to all the specialist growers of rhododendrons and azaleas - and to all the people working to try to eliminate invasive wild rhodos from acidic British soils!   It surprised me, as I am currently eating handfuls of whortleberries (a close relative of the blueberry) on most of my walks. You need to be careful how many you put in a muffin though.  Otherwise you end up with a sort of grey squishy pudding.  Very tasty, but not a thing of beauty!

I'm dubious about the idea that the plants are beset with pests too.  So far as I can see, the reason that some fruits (raspberries, strawberries gooseberries, currants) are grown in Britain and some aren't so much (figs, blueberries, kiwi fruit etc) is simply that in Britain, land is very expensive and so is labour.  This is not a cheap place to grow any kind of fruit commercially, and fruit growing has been in decline for generations. Most fruit plants take years to establish, so there is little incentive for growers to experiment with new species.

In other news, I've just eaten an apple from the early apple tree: very red, but rather too tart still.  Give it another week or so.   I had to fight my way through undergrowth to get there though - could really do with a couple of days to just mow and chop nonstop, with no rain!

Comments

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of it boils down to the issue of shelf life.

I do find it sad that it is so hard to get hold of gooseberries etc though- I keep checking the local fruit and veg shops, but it is very rare to see them.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Now there's a plant that genuinely does have pest problems: sawfly is a nightmare on gooseberries. Last time I grew them I was picking catarpillars off literally twice a day in an attempt to keep enough leaves on to get them to berry.

Though I think that may have been a particularly vulnerable cultivar, and our local ecosystem was also screwed by the combined impact of hundreds of deeply suburban Cheshireites all squirting evil substances in all directions, so there weren't enough predators. Grrr.

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

Strange- my Mother never had that problem in Cleethorpes. She had three bushes, all horribly spiky (and yes, I did have to help with the picking) with fairly small tart berries. I was never keen as a child, but I love them now.

I think she had to move them or some reason and they didn't survive the transplant.

I did manage to get some last year (the wholesaler delivering them asked "What are all them hairy grapes for"!) spent ages topping and tailing them- put some in the freezer, with the rest in the jam pan awaiting the evening when I could make it without the worry of boiling sugar+small children.

Then got a splitting migraine, had to go to bed and found out the next morning that they were all mouldy :(

[bunn.livejournal.com]

We used to grow them when I was a child too, and didn't have the sawfly problem in Devon either - I have wondered if the variety I chose for my Cheshire garden was partly to blame :-(

I remember making endless jars of rather gluey gooseberry jam from our Devon berries, and they were moderately sweet too, a well ripened one could be eaten right off the bush.

Maybe I should give them another go...

Poot at the mouldy berries. Generally I think they last pretty well, sounds like you were unlucky there.